


A Long Night

by serendipitous_rambles



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: But we all know I'm bad at that and pining usually begins quick, College AU, F/M, Modern AU, Rivals to Lovers, kind of a slow burn?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24736192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitous_rambles/pseuds/serendipitous_rambles
Summary: This couldn't be happening. Not only was Anne forced to work on an assignment with her rival, but she was now trapped in the library with him overnight, with seemingly no means of escape until morning. This was not happening.// College AU set over one long, awkward night.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 67
Kudos: 268





	1. 23:00

Anne woke up to the sound of her alarm, groaning. Any other day she would be excited to get up, but not today. 

Her roommate Diana sat up, stretching, “Good morning, Anne.”

“Is it?”

“Stop being so dramatic. It’s one assignment. You just have to get through today without killing each other, and then you can go back to hating each other.”

Anne covered her eyes, wincing about the mere thought of working with... _him_ . For some reason the professor decided she would choose their assignment partners for them as if they were still in high school and couldn’t be trusted to get the work done. Anyone, literally _anyone_ \- even the boy who sits at the back of the class sleeping the whole time - would have been better than the partner Anne got. Gilbert Blythe. They had had it out for each other since middle school, and since there was really only one college on Prince Edward Island, they had followed each other (along with the majority of their high school) to Queens College, only prolonging this rivalry. For years they had argued and fought over grades, so it was inevitable that this assignment was going to prove a challenge for them to work together. But why out of everyone on earth did her partner have to be Gilbert? She really needed a good grade on this assignment worth 60% of their grade. The fates were not kind to her today.

  
  


“If I don’t return, assume I’ve gone to jail for murder.” she said to Diana as she was packing her backpack. 

“I don’t know why you two still act like this. Can’t you admit you’re friends?”

Anne spluttered at the ridiculous thought. “Friends? Diana he has and always will be the bane of my existence. Gilbert Blythe is not the charming boy he pretends to be. He’s arrogant, conceited, and just a downright jerk.”

Diana laughed, not convinced. “It’s like a silly game you two have. I’ve seen you two being nice to each other before.”

“Only because we have to be. But then I remember what a jerk he can be and we’re back to arguing again.”

“You know at high school he had a crush on you?”

“This again? That’s just a rumour people made up. No one has a crush on me, and if they did it wouldn’t be Gilbert Blythe.”

Diana sighed, “It’s obvious he just wants to impress you, but you can continue living in your dream world.”

Anne zipped her bag with a final, slightly aggressive pull. “I will. It’s certainly better than the real one.”

“Goodbye!”

Anne rolled her eyes, refusing to believe Diana’s wild tales. She had an active imagination, but Diana was being ridiculous.

She dragged her heavy backpack all the way to the library, dreading every step. The sky was grey and the air warm and heavy. 

“Oh dear sky, you look just how I feel.” she muttered to herself, questioning whether she should return to her dorm for an umbrella. But the sooner she got to the library, the sooner the misery would be over.

When she got there, Gilbert was already waiting on the steps outside. He was typing on his phone with a frown, books tucked under one arm. She supposed she could understand why _some_ people might think him handsome. His features had become more defined in the years they'd known each other, and his curly hair did seem to look soft which she supposed some girls were into. And maybe _some_ people would find that brooding face attractive, if you were into that mysterious type...which Anne certainly _wasn't_. But what really brought him down was those ugly sweaters he always seemed to wear. It looked like something Matthew would have worn. The anger towards Gilbert shifted into a little pang in her heart at that sudden reminiscing of Matthew. It had been almost 3 years now but she still felt his loss.

Gilbert looked up when he heard her footsteps, face morphing into a polite smile that she didn't return. It was only a formality, she didn't think he'd be pleased to see her.

"Anne." He nodded in acknowledgement but she just shrugged her shoulders, reaching past him to push the library door.

He followed after her, "I get it. You don't want to work with me. But we're partners so you'll have to just put up with it for a few hours. Ok?"

"I just really need a good grade." She said over her shoulder as she weaved through the students, trying to find a free space to sit.

"And you don't think I also want one? I'm not here to sabotage you Anne."

She sighed, dumping her bag on one of the desks. "Let's just get this over with?"

Gilbert sat down in the seat opposite her, and through a clenched jaw replied, "Pleasure." 

Anne didn't need help on an assignment, she was more than capable of doing the research herself. They barely spoke to each other the whole time, and if they did it was a one sentence conversation, usually to argue over something trivial like the font or line spacing on their joint document.

They were in a war. Gilbert would type something, but five minutes later Anne would go over it, deleting and changing parts of his paragraph.

"Why did you do that?" He looked up over the top of his laptop at Anne.

Her eyes met his, narrowing. "Just editing."

He furrowed his brows, typing slightly louder and "returning the favour" on one of Anne's paragraphs.

When she made a noise of indignation he just shrugged, "Editing." 

Anne didn't know how much more of this she could take. They were barely half way through the assignment and it was already starting to get dark. But neither wanted this to go on for another day, so they vowed to get it completed in one sitting.

Gilbert however was not making things easy. It seemed like every five minutes his phone would buzz but he kept ignoring whoever it was that was calling. To make things worse, he seemed to have picked up a habit of clicking his pen while he was thinking. It was like he was purposely going out of his way to bug her.

"I can't work like this. I'm going to work somewhere else. Get some more research done. We're nowhere near to finishing." She stood up, gathering her things. 

"Fine by me." Gilbert said, "Maybe I can actually work in peace."

Anne gave a "humph" before marching off to a more secluded part of the library in search of peace and quiet.

* * *

It had been hours, but Anne still had to finish the assignment. The library slowly started to become empty, with students wanting nothing less than to spend a Friday night there. But Anne couldn't leave just yet. Just a few more paragraphs.

She fought back a yawn, leaning her chin on her palm as she tried to get through this textbook. But her eyes were growing heavy and she could barely keep them open.

Anne jolted up when a loud crash of thunder rumbled from outside. Her eyes opened, but she hadn't even realised she'd closed them in the first place. After a few moments she came to her senses, an unsettling feeling sitting in her stomach. Something was definitely not right. 

She looked around, noticing the lights had been dimmed. The library was usually quiet, but this was different. She checked her phone, _23:00_. When did the library close again? Anne shoved everything she could in her backpack, running through the library. This can't be happening. Surely everything will be fine. She fell asleep. Big deal. But as she approached the main door, her heart fell. Beside the entrance, the reception desk was empty, with the lamp turned off. She almost didn't want to get her hopes up, reaching for the door. But just as she feared...locked.

She checked her phone again, but there was no signal. As if on cue the thunder rumbled again, following a flash of lightning.

Great. She couldn't even call anyone. What was she supposed to do? No way was she spending all night here alone. What she wouldn't give even to have Gilbert still here. He'd clearly left without telling her even though they were supposed to be working together. 

Looking around at the empty library, Anne knew she had one option.

"HELP! HELLO? I'M LOCKED IN!" She started hitting the door, hoping a security guard, or even a drunk student, just _anybody_ passing would hear her.

But from behind her came a groggy reply, "Anne?"


	2. 00:00

No. No this was not happening. Anne was not about to turn around and see Gilbert. That voice was just her imagination, right? But as she slowly turned around, her worst fears were confirmed. 

"Gilbert." Of course. It wasn't enough that Anne was trapped in the library, she had to be trapped in there with _him_.

"What's going on? I must have fallen asleep and when I woke up it was dark." He walked past her to push the door. "It's locked."

"Well done, _genius._ " She folded her arms, "I already tried that."

"Well maybe if we hadn't split up we wouldn't have let each other fall asleep, and we wouldn't now be trapped here."

"You're blaming _me_ for this?" Anne stepped forward, pointing a finger to her chest.

Gilbert also stepped forward until he was looking down at her. "It was _your_ idea to split up. It's a joint assignment, Anne. We're supposed to work together." 

"Maybe I didn't need your help!"

"You've certainly made _that_ clear over the years."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I've tried to be your friend but all you do is shut me down."

"You're not so perfect either. It's like your only purpose in life is to torment me."

The anger in Gilbert's eyes softened, and he leaned back. Anne hadn't realised how close they'd been until he'd moved. 

"Is that truly what you think?" His voice was quiet, and his eyebrows furrowed. 

She shrugged, not sure what this feeling was in her chest. Guilt? Was she feeling bad for him?

"Alright." He nodded, not giving her a chance to properly answer. He turned his back to her walking away. "It looks like the phone signal is out so we're going to be here a while. I'll go back to my own side of the library til then since my presence is such an irritant for you."

"Gil-" she started to follow after him but came to her senses. What was she doing? This was Gilbert. Why should she care what he's doing. The less she sees of him the better right?

She just needed to sit tight for a few hours until the storm clears and someone will rescue them. There are worse places to be trapped after all. A library full of hundreds of books? Anne could think of few places she'd rather be. And besides, they still have electricity.

Or so she thought.

Anne was just about to sit down with a book when the lights briefly flickered. As she looked up, they flickered one more time and then shut off completely to the echo of thunder in the background. 

She fumbled for her phone, switching on the torch. Maybe there was a backup generator or something. 

Even with the light from her phone, Anne could barely see, keeping her eyes on the ground, trying not to trip. But as she was stumbling in the dark she collided with something, falling on top of it. The object made a grunt noise as they hit the ground. Anne held her phone up to see Gilbert wincing beneath her, the wind knocked out of him.

They'd never been that close before, their noses almost touching. She suddenly realised what was happening, rolling off him.

Gilbert slowly sat up, rubbing his arm. "Ow."

"What are you doing?"

"I was trying to find a generator but some clumsy girl fell into me."

"Well maybe if you…" Anne couldn't think of a comeback. She was the one who hadn't been looking. "I'm sorry. Here." She held out a hand to help him up. 

"Thanks…" Gilbert took her hand, both of them ignoring the weird feeling between them. They didn't know if it was from the physical contact or the fact that Anne had actually apologised to him, but there was an awkward tension in the air.

"Uh, the generator." Anne cleared her throat and began reaching around again, shining her phone against the walls.

She felt Gilbert right behind her, and his hand ever so lightly touching the small of her back as they navigated the dark. Never had she been so aware of someone else's presence. It wasn't good, but it also wasn't a bad feeling. There was comfort in knowing there was someone else here with her, but knowing it was Gilbert just complicated things.

"A ha!" Gilbert moved his hand to Anne's shoulder as he brushed past her towards the generator, interrupting her thoughts. "Hold this please."

He handed her his phone and she shone both their lights in the direction of the switches so Gilbert could use both hands.

"You know what you're doing?" She raised an eyebrow, craning her neck to peer over his shoulder. But it wasn't like she knew either.

He shrugged, "I figure one of these will do something." 

She watched him randomly flick switches until a low buzz briefly sounded, and the familiar flicker of lights came on. But since it was the backup power, only a few lights turned on in a dim yellow glow.

"That's better than nothing I guess." Anne handed Gilbert back his phone.

"You're welcome." He said sarcastically.

Anne mumbled, "Thank you Gilbert."

He grinned, leaning forward and cupping a hand to his ear, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you? What was that?"

"I said _thank you_ Gilbert." Anne folded her arms, this was humiliating. 

"I just wanted to hear you say that again since it's the first and only time I'll ever hear it."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but at least _he_ seemed to be in a good mood.

"I'm just teasing." He was still smiling, "But can we call a truce? At least for tonight? I'd rather not be sat in a library all alone."

Anne pretended to think about it, but sighed. She knew she would rather have company too, even if that said company was Gilbert Blythe. "Alright, truce. For _now._ "

He nodded, holding out his hand for her to shake. "Truce it is."

* * *

The truce had been called, but you wouldn't know by looking at them. Anne sat at a desk, trying to get some more study in since there wasn't anything else to do, while Gilbert sat on the floor, leaning against a bookshelf as he scribbled something in his notebook. Neither had said a word in almost half an hour. 

They'd set up a "base camp" in the main area of the library: a large open space in the middle surrounded by bookshelves, with a view of the front entrance - just in case by some miracle it opened. 

It was still quiet, but the sounds of Gilbert writing, his odd sighs and even that annoying pen clicking somehow made it less uncomfortable. Anne didn't feel so alone, but there was no way she'd admit that to him.

She was writing when suddenly a ball of paper landed on the table in front of her. It was clearly Gilbert trying to annoy her but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. That was until she felt a paper ball hit her on the head.

Gilbert was laughing, but not in a malicious way. There was something playful and boyish behind it that made Anne crumple up a bit of her own paper and throw it back at him. This continued into an all out war, hiding behind bookshelves and under tables. Weapons morphing from paper balls to paper airplanes. It was freeing being able to actually shout in the library and not have anyone tell them to be quiet. 

Anne hid behind a bookshelf, poking her head around the corner to look for Gilbert, but was hit between the eyes with his paper plane.

"Ow." She fell to the floor, a hand over her eye. 

Gilbert stopped, running beside her. "I'm sorry, Anne!"

"I think I got a paper cut on my eye." 

"Let me see." He reached a hand up but before he could she hit him with a paper ball, laughing.

"I win." 

Gilbert sat back, running a hand through his hair. "Very funny. Ok, ok, you win."

"My eye is fine."

Gilbert nodded, leaning his head back against the shelf.

"Were you... worried about me?" Anne mocked, beginning to laugh. "Careful Gilbert, or people might start to think we're friends."

He looked at her, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "That'd be awful."

"I'm going to go pick up all that paper we wasted. I'm so sorry dear trees!" She shouted out to no one in particular, but Gilbert found himself smiling as he watched her leave.


	3. 01:00

Anne looked at her phone, 01:24. Still no signal, no doubt Diana would have been calling her worried out of her mind. But then again, Diana knows she was with Gilbert. What if she thinks Anne is still with him? She is with him but not  _ with  _ him. Diana doesn't know they're in the library...who knows what Diana thinks? 

She was sat cross legged on the floor, a book laying beside her. Her mind was too scattered to really focus. How much longer were they going to be in here?

Gilbert was sat opposite her, still scribbling in his notebook. They'd once again returned to that silence, as if their paper fight hadn't happened. 

But she was starting to get bored. "What are you writing?" 

Gilbert looked up, a slight colour in his cheeks. He pressed the notebook against his chest. "Nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing." She sat up on her knees, reaching forward. "Come on, let me see."

"It's private." He held the notebook above his head just out of her reach. But Anne continued to shuffle forward, one hand holding his shoulder to help push her up to reach out with her other hand towards the notebook.

"Got it!" She held the notebook triumphantly, and looked at the page. "Oh…"

It was a sketch of her while she was reading. Her legs folded, shoulders hunched as she leaned over the book. It was a rough pen sketch, but it was really good. She never knew Gilbert could draw. Her hand ran over the pen lines, still trying to process the fact it was  _ her. _ But it was undeniably her. As she met Gilbert's gaze, the colour in his cheeks had become more prominent.

"I'm sorry, it's weird. I shouldn't have...I was bored and you were just sat there so…" 

"No," she shook her head, handing over the notebook back to him. "It's amazing. You somehow managed to even make  _ me  _ look good." She said with a small laugh, "I never knew you were that talented."

"Careful Anne, or people might think we're actually friends." He laughed, turning over the page to start something else.

She sat back from him, hands folded in her lap. Something in her wanted to apologise. For what she wasn't quite sure. For all those years they'd argued? She wanted to say maybe they were actually friends. But she couldn't get her mouth to form the words. Instead she just mumbled incoherently and shuffled away from him.

"You know," he said, bringing her out of her thoughts. "I think this is the longest we've gone without arguing."

"An accomplishment. Maybe we should find something to argue about." 

Gilbert pretended to think for a moment, "I can't think of anything."

"Me neither." Their eyes met for a second, and a genuine smile passed between them. But Anne had to look away, for some reason it felt too intimate to be looking into his eyes like that.

She didn't know why she was always so mean to him, it was just how they were. But moments like these made her almost forget the pretense they'd created. Gilbert had always been in her life, for better or for worse. They'd always been there for each other's big moments in life, whether she'd like to admit it or not. But it was complicated. No one, not even herself really knew what they were to each other. 

"Anne," once again Gilbert's voice interrupted her thoughts. Even when she was thinking of him he still managed to ruin things. 

"Yeah?"

He cleared his throat. "I like not arguing with you."

She waited a moment, looking away so he couldn't see the blush on her cheeks when she said, "I like not arguing with you too…" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a short chapter but that's because the next one is supposed to be a little longer and I didn't want to split the next chapter up to fit in this one.


	4. 02:00

It was just after 02:30 am when Gilbert's stomach rumbled. Anne hadn't noticed it before, but she was also starting to feel the hunger.

"Here." She rummaged in her bag to find some leftover plum puffs Marilla had sent her. 

"I can't." He shook his head, but she could see him holding an arm against his stomach to stop the rumbling. 

"Gilbert you'll starve. I'd rather not be found in the morning by a dead body. They'll ask so many questions."

He laughed, finally getting up to sit next to her. She thought he would just take the pastries not actually join her. But...it was nice. In a weird way.

He took a bite, leaning back against the bookshelf. "These are good. A Marilla special I can assume?"

"You remember?"

"Are you kidding me?" He smiled as if to say "how could I forget?".

"I didn't think you'd remember stuff like that. We weren't exactly friends growing up." Anne looked at the pastry in her hands, picking at it.

He turned to face her and it suddenly felt too intimate. "I never said I didn't want to be your friend. You just decided that I didn't and I don't know why. I've apologised hundreds of times. I was a kid I didn't mean it. I just saw a cute girl and tried to get her attention. I-" he stopped, and Anne saw the realisation of what he'd just said sweep across his face. 

Her hands stilled on the pastry. "You think I'm cute?"

" _Were_. Important distinction." He said, holding up a finger. "I've learned my lesson." But she could see his shoulders bouncing lightly as he chuckled to himself, dusting the crumbs off his trousers.

"So...it's true then?"

He looked up, raising an eyebrow. "What is?"

Anne suddenly felt weird asking him this, but the curiosity was burning. "People thought you uh, you had a crush on me back in school." She couldn't help but let out a nervous laugh at how ridiculous it sounded coming from her mouth.

"Oh wow." He laughed covering his eyes with his hands, his knees coming up to his chest, and Anne felt the anger boil inside her. Just when they were getting along he goes back to mocking her. 

"You don't have to be mean about it. I didn't believe those rumours anyway." She folded her arms, trying to defend herself from the embarrassment.

"No, I'm not laughing at you." Gilbert lowered his hands, "I'm just laughing at myself. I didn't know I was that obvious."

"So you did?"

"We were just kids. But I remember when you stood up in front of the whole class to read that Tennyson poem." He looked off to the side, a smile growing on his face as he reminisced about that day. "You were so confident and passionate, something that small town seemed to lack. It was like...I was hearing poetry for the first time and I…" he trailed off, a colour growing on his cheeks. 

"Anyway...you know how the rest of that story goes." He rubbed the spot on his head where all those years ago, Anne had hit him with her textbook after he tugged her braid. She could still hear his voice whispering "carrots".

Gilbert continued, "I soon realised I'd kind of blown it from the start so I got over it. But that's all in the past, right? We're grown up now. And I'd like to think we're actually friends."

Anne's faced wrinkled at the word "friends". 

"Come on, you know we were destined to be good friends. Whether you like it or not."

"I suppose…" Anne shrugged, trying to seem indifferent to the fact that she'd just learned that someone actually had a crush on her in middle school. Her! The biggest nerd, loser in the whole school had actually been someone's crush? She couldn't believe it, but had to remain calm on the outside.

"We did call a truce. Perhaps it's time our competition finally comes to an end. We are adults now after all as you said." 

"Only _we_ could make friendship so formal and complicated." He laughed, pretending to raise a glass, "to our friendship."

"Our friendship." Anne laughed, also pretending to cheers with Gilbert's glass.

"In a way, I'm kind of glad we got trapped here together." He smiled and Anne playfully nudged him with her shoulder. 

"Don't push it."

"I'm serious." He rested his arms on his knees, hugging them tighter to his chest. "It's given me time to think."

"About what?" 

He sighed deeply, "Winifred. My…girlfriend."

This was the first Anne was hearing of any girlfriend. But then again she didn't exactly ask him about his life very often.

"Why?"

"She wants me to move to Toronto. Transfer to that college so we can be nearer. She just got a job there."

So _that's_ what all the phone buzzing earlier was about. Why wouldn't he answer her calls then?

"And...you don't want to go?"

Gilbert shook his head. "I...I don't know what I want. Toronto is good. And... Winnie is great but, I have a life here and...I…" his face was wrinkled, Anne could see the struggle he was going through.

"Do you love her?"

The question caught Gilbert by surprise, and he froze. 

"If you love her then it shouldn't matter if you're in Toronto or PEI or Mexico. You can make it work."

"That's just it...I...I don't think I do?" Gilbert turned to face her but it looked like he was fighting the urge to cry. "We've been together for a while but it just never seemed right. But it almost became a habit. We weren't together for the right reasons just because it was easy. And I think we're just too scared to end it. But this Toronto thing...she wouldn't stop texting me about it. And calling. And I never knew what to say because I didn't know how to tell her."

He noticed the sad expression on Anne's face, "Sorry I shouldn't just drop all this on you."

She shrugged, "It's not like I can go anywhere."

He cracked a small smile. "I haven't really talked about it with anyone, but it feels good to get it off my chest."

"I get it." Anne leaned her head back against the bookcase, looking up at the ceiling. "It's like when, when Matthew died." It was still hard for Anne to bring it up sometimes. "I felt like I couldn't really talk about it to anyone. I didn't want to burden my friends with all that. But when I finally opened up to Diana about it, I just felt a weight off me."

"I'm sorry about Matthew." Gilbert's voice made her look away from the ceiling. "He was a good man. I should've been there for you, even if you didn't want me." 

"I still miss him...Do you still miss your dad?" She regretted saying it the moment the words came out her mouth. "That was stupid of me, of course you do."

Gilbert looked down, leaning his chin on his arms that still hugged his knees to his chest. He looked so small. "I do. Sometimes I wonder though if he'd be proud of me, of the man I've become."

Anne couldn't stop herself from placing a hand on his arm, watching his head lift slightly to meet her gaze. "I know he'd be proud. How could he not?"

Gilbert managed a smile with their faces slowly started inching closer. But Anne caught herself, sitting back up as if nothing had happened. 

No. She wasn't going to do this. It was _Gilbert._ They were just caught up in a moment, and besides, no one can think rationally when they're stuck in a library. But why couldn't she get that smile out of her head?


	5. 03:00

Gilbert hadn't mentioned whatever that was just now between them. Whether he had even noticed it at all Anne didn't know, maybe it had been her who leaned in, or maybe it had all been in her head. Maybe she was starting to go insane. She couldn't read anymore, but there was no phone signal.

Somehow they had ended up in a game of "truths". Gilbert had shifted to the floor, laying on his back as he rested his arms behind his head. 

It was his turn to ask a question, his lips pursed as he tried to think of something to ask. Anne watched as an idea came into his mind, the look sweeping across his face.

"Did you ever have a crush on  _ me _ ?" He raised an eyebrow. If he already admitted to his childhood crush then she wasn't going to get away so quickly.

Anne hesitated before answering. Maybe... _ once  _ she had thought he was cute. And maybe she did think he was handsome. "True... but only for a few minutes when I first met you but then you pulled my hair and the illusion was broken." 

"I'll take that." There was a smug smile on his face that Anne threw a scrunched up bit of paper at, causing him to laugh. 

It was her turn to ask, and there was one thing burning in her mind. "Do you ever wish things had been different between us? Like at school. If we'd actually been friends."

It took him a while to think before finally he answered. "I wish I hadn't pulled your braid…"

The answer was simple but it told Anne everything she needed to know. If he hadn't pulled her braid maybe they'd be friends. Maybe they'd be something...more. Their rivalry could've been friendship. They wouldn't have all these wasted years. 

"But it means you noticed me. So maybe it wasn't all bad. What about you?"

She shrugged. "I wish I'd forgiven you sooner."

They shared a genuine smile, before returning to a comfortable silence.

She heard a yawn and looked down, seeing Gilbert's eyes close. He still managed to smirk in his sleep, but she couldn't look away no matter how much it annoyed her. His hair had fallen in front of his eyes and it was all Anne could do not to brush it away. Her hand began reaching out slowly, but a loud crack of thunder made them both jolt. Gilbert shot up, chest rising quickly. 

"Guess that storm's back." He ran a hand through his hair, brushing it from his face. Anne secretly thanked the thunder for not letting her be a total creep. 

He shuffled back to sit next to her, his shoulder brushing hers. Involuntarily she shivered, and his brows instantly furrowed. "Are you cold? Here, take my sweater."

Before she could protest he had already lifted it off his head, handing it to her. 

"I'm fine, honestly Gilbert." But now that he brought it up, it had started to get a little cold.

"Like you said, I can't have them find me with a dead body." 

She reluctantly put his sweater over her head, trying not to think about how warm it was. "Uh, thanks."

He smiled, and Anne swore she saw his eyes briefly roam over her, but she chose to believe her own eyes were playing tricks.

"Don't go." Later she would blame the tiredness for making her blurt it out.

"I can't, I'm stuck just like you." He laughed but she shook her head. 

"No. I mean, don't go to Toronto. Stay here." With me, she wanted to add. 

Again, he didn't respond. Just smiled as he sighed softly, leaning his head back against the bookcase behind them.

Anne looked away from him, turning slightly into his sweater to try and hide the blush across her cheeks. It was awfully cozy, and the bagginess made her feel secure somehow. She didn't even notice her eyes growing heavy.


	6. 06:00/07:00

Gilbert woke up with something tickling his cheek. After he started to come to his senses, he realised what that was. Anne had fallen asleep against him, her head on his chest as they had slumped over in the middle of the night. Gilbert didn't remember draping an arm loosely around her. His face has tilted so that his cheek was resting on top of her head.

Without waking her, he lifted his head properly, looking down at her. She seemed so peaceful, one . Gilbert didn't think he'd ever had such a good night's sleep before. Maybe he could get used to this.

She stirred slightly, but ended up leaning into him more. He checked his phone. The library was supposed to open at 8 am, and it was just past 6 am. Under two hours left. But a part of him was sad, already missing whatever this was right now. Once this was over were things just going to go back to how they were before? But right now, he tried to just relax and not worry about what would happen.

* * *

Anne felt steady breathing beneath her as she woke up, and suddenly everything was coming back. She was leaning against Gilbert, but she wasn't mad about it. She was still wearing his sweater, and she decided she'd never been so comfortable in her life. Her eyes started to close again and she wasn't about to fight it. Right now, she wouldn't care who found them like this.

* * *

Whatever small amount of peace Gilbert had been trying to hold on to was disrupted abruptly by his phone vibrating in his pocket. Guess the signal is back. He glanced at it - Winifred. She often called him before she went on her morning run, and since he was an early riser, it never seemed to bother him. But right now was a different story. He had planned to call her later, but he supposed they were doing this now.

Regretfully, Gilbert untangled himself from Anne, gently helping her to lie down so she wasn't disturbed. 

He crept away, finally answering his phone.

"Winnie. Hi." He whispered.

"You haven't answered any of my calls or texts for hours. I was worried." 

Gilbert sighed, running a hand through his hair. He was never good at this. "Uh, about that. I got stuck in the library. It's a long story but the storm knocked out the signal and I got locked in. But that's not important."

"Not important. Gilbert you were locked in all night."

"I need to talk to you. About Toronto."

"You've made your decision?" Her voice sounded hopeful from the other end.

"I can't go."

Silence.

"Winifred, you're amazing. But we've got nothing in common. You're in Toronto and I'm here. It hasn't been working for a long time. And I think you know it too."

"I guess I kind of knew you wouldn't come when you kept putting it off." She didn't sound too upset. But Gilbert could never tell with her. 

"You know we're both not happy. Maybe at the start but...but we just want different things."

He glanced over at a sleeping Anne, and felt his heart leap. "And I've realised there are things on this island that I don't want to lose. Not ever…" he realised how awful that sounded to her.

"Who is she?"

"How-"

"I know you Gilbert. There's someone keeping you here. Not some- _ thing. _ "

"You can only know something when you know it. And I think I've known for a long time that...that my heart belongs to someone else. It has for years. Her name is Anne…"

"Is this the Anne from school?"

"Yeah."

"I guess I kind of always knew. You'd always talk about what she'd done in class or something she'd done that annoyed you. Only you never truly seemed annoyed, it seemed like you were deflecting. I should've seen it sooner."

"I'm so sorry. But wouldn't it be better that I realised now instead of when we're stuck together in Toronto and you can't get rid of me?"

He heard a slight sniff from the other end of the line, "I'd rather this than us growing to resent each other."

"We're still friends right?"

"I suppose." She sighed.

"I'll come see you in Toronto?"

"I'd like to meet this Anne."

"She'd love to meet you."

"So I'll see you in Toronto some day?"

"I'll see you in Toronto."

Gilbert hung up, feeling like a new man. That had gone better with Winifred than he thought. She truly was a great person. Just not the one for him.

He found his way back, expecting to see Anne still asleep, but she was gone.


	7. 7:00

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catch me not thinking this whole "naming chapters in regards to the time" thing through and getting stuck at this point with chapter titles :/

Anne woke up this time on the floor, Gilbert nowhere to be seen. She sat up, hearing a faint mumbling.

As she got up properly, she started following Gilbert's voice and saw him talking on the phone. Guess the signal was back. 

"I'll see you in Toronto."

The words felt cold in her chest. Winifred. Toronto. After everything last night he was still going to leave. How had she been so stupid? Getting caught in his tricks just for him to leave. She'd actually thought they'd been through something last night, that something had changed. 

But maybe some things can't change and it felt like they were right back to square one, with Gilbert having zero regard for her feelings. She grabbed her phone and called Diana.

"Anne! Thank goodness you're alright. I was so worried."

"I'm fine. But I've been trapped in the library all night and I need you to get help."

"Wait what?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you later. Just...hurry please."

"Ok, I'll be there as soon as I can."

Anne gathered her things, deciding to get away from Gilbert as far as the library allowed. Just until Diana comes to the rescue. 

* * *

"Anne?" Gilbert shouted through the library. He ran to the door, pulling at it. Nope, still locked. She hadn't left. Not yet.

"Anne?"

He finally found her, sat alone in the furthest point in the library. Where she had been originally before they got locked in.

Her head was bent, intensely staring at her phone. It looked like she was refreshing her messages over and over again.

"Hey, I wondered where you'd gone." He said softly, sitting down opposite her.

She shrugged, still looking at her phone. 

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"It doesn't look like nothing."

She finally looked up at him, but with the same glare she usually had. Not the new warm gaze she'd given him throughout the night. "I don't know why you care so much?"

"I thought we were friends."

"I thought so too." 

"Then why are you being like this?"

"Then why are you going to Toronto?" Anne didn't want to say it. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing his decision got to her. Why did she care if he picked Winifred? Only she knew why she cared. And that was something she didn't want to admit, even if she'd been thinking about it lately.

"I'm not."

She grabbed her stuff and stood up, "I'm done with your lies, Gilbert."

  
  


Just then, they heard what sounded like a key in the lock. They momentarily paused the argument, running towards the source of the sound.

"Diana!" Anne threw her arms around Diana, pushing past the security and the librarian. The look on all of their faces was indescribable.

"How on earth did this happen?" The librarian asked, glaring at the security guard who just shrugged.

Gilbert was a few steps behind Anne, having to go back and gather his things. He looked up at the sky to see it was just as grey and gloomy as when he'd last seen it. 

"We fell asleep on an assignment, and the phone signals were down because of the storm." Anne said, not looking in Gilbert's direction. Her tone was flat, very matter-of-fact.

The librarian ushered the security guard inside, muttering something about needing to go through security checks more diligently.

Anne linked arms with Diana and they started to walk down the steps.

"Anne, wait." Gilbert said, lightly grabbing her arm before she could get very far.

She took a deep breath before turning around. Maybe she had a few things left to say.

"I'll see you back at the dorm." Anne said, and Diana nodded. Understanding that this was something bigger than just this one night. It was years and years of unresolved feelings and tension, all about to be released.

"Anne if you'd let me explain." 

She shrugged, "What's there to talk about? You're going to Toronto and I couldn't care less."

"Is that true?" 

Anne could hear how heavily she was breathing, it was so embarrassing. "It doesn't matter. I thought things had changed last night. I thought we finally understood each other. And maybe I was stupid enough to think that I'd been wrong all these years and you're a good guy and I thought...I thought we  _ connected  _ Gilbert _.  _ I thought there were feelings there that I'd repressed since middle school, and I thought...maybe you'd felt it too."

Gilbert stood on the steps on the library, mouth opening and closing but no sound coming out.

Something tapped Anne on the head, and she realised it was a raindrop. Slowly but steadily, the drops became more frequent. It was warm. Soon, it was like the heavens opened up and rain was pouring down. But neither moved from the steps.

Anne felt the raindrops cling to her eyelashes and she tried to blink them away.

"I'm not...I'm not going to live in Toronto with Winifred. It's just a visit. She's still my friend and I promised her. But Anne you have to believe me when I say that I meant everything that I said last night. There's things here that I can't lose."

"What?" She looked up at him, watching his eyes roam across her face. Gilbert's hair stuck to his forehead in curls, and he tried to wipe away the water that dripped from them into his eyes.

"Surely you know? After everything."

Anne looked down. She didn't want to believe him.

"Anne, I broke up with Winifred because things had never been quite right. I know now why that was. Because ever since that first day in school, I haven't been able to get you out of my head. I know you think I'm arrogant and rude and every bad thing under the sun. But the last thing I am is a liar."

"Gilbert-"

"Actually, I did lie. I lied when I said I'd gotten over my feelings for you. It always has been and always will be you. And I know I've hardly done anything worthy of your affection. But you have to know. I felt it too. We connect in a way that I haven't felt with anyone before, not even Winifred. So you can go on hating me, but I can't pretend that I hate you. Because the truth is I never did."

Something came over Anne, and she stepped forward grabbing his damp shirt in her hands as she kissed him. The rain still pouring over them.

"Does this mean-"

"Stop talking." She muttered against his mouth, hands moving to clutch at the wet curls at the nape of his neck, his hands finding her waist.

They remained like that for what seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes in reality. Everything they'd kept inside for years finally surfaced, and there was no going back.

When they finally broke apart, Anne sighed. Gilbert's hands cupped her cheek, brushing the rain soaked hair from her forehead.

"Maybe we should get out of this rain." She raised her voice to be heard over the sound of water hitting the concrete around them, and the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears.

"As long as it's not the library." He laughed, allowing himself to be pulled by Anne's hand in his as they ran through campus.

They just made it back to Anne's dorm when she suddenly gasped. "We didn't finish the assignment!"

Gilbert had a sly smile as he leaned forward. "Guess we'll just have to stay up all night again."

Anne nodded, their noses barely touching. "Another long night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Xx


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